State v. JM

• Decision Date: 03 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. SC01-1215.,SC01-1215.
• Citation: 824 So.2d 105
• Parties: STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. J.M., a child, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

824 So.2d 105

STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. J.M., a child, Respondent.

No. SC01-1215.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 3, 2002.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, James W. Rogers, Tallahassee Bureau Chief, Criminal Appeals, and Thomas H. Duffy, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, for Petitioner.

Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, and P. Douglas Brinkmeyer, Assistant Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, FL, for Respondent.

ANSTEAD, C.J.

We have for review J.M. v. State, 783 So.2d 1204 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001), which certified conflict with Payne v. State, 753 So.2d 129 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000).¹ We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we approve the decision of the First District Court of Appeal that an adjudication of delinquency does not constitute a felony criminal conviction for purposes of adjudicating a person to be a sexual predator under the Florida Sexual Predators Act. We disapprove the contrary holding in Payne.

PROCEEDINGS TO DATE

J.M., a fourteen-year-old juvenile, was charged as an adult with sexual battery in violation of section 794.011(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1999).² See J.M., 783 So.2d at 1204

. J.M. pled nolo contendere to the charge and the trial court exercised its discretion to adjudicate J.M. as a delinquent, discretion authorized by section 985.227(3)(c), Florida Statutes (1999), and section 985.233(4)(b), Florida Statutes (1999).³ In imposing juvenile sanctions, the court ordered J.M. to a Level 2, nonresidential treatment program under the supervision of the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Three experts testified at the juvenile disposition hearing that J.M.'s offense was not typical of the type committed by a chronic sexual offender. The experts recommended against incarceration, stating that incarceration would serve no purpose. They also opined that J.M. was amenable to treatment, did not present a high risk of reoffense, and would likely be rehabilitated. Likewise, they recommended against J.M.'s placement in any higher-level, residential juvenile sexual offender program that specialized in more serious, older offenders.

Subsequently, after juvenile sanctions were imposed, the State requested that the court classify J.M. as a sexual predator, pursuant to section 775.21, Florida Statutes (2000), also known as "The Florida Sexual Predators Act" ("Predator Act"). Section 775.21(4)(a) provides, in relevant part, that "upon conviction, an offender shall be designated as a `sexual predator'... if ... [t]he felony is [a] capital, life, or first-degree felony violation ... of chapter 794."⁴ (Emphasis added.) In the definitions section of the Predator Act, the term "conviction" is defined as meaning "a determination of guilt which is the result of a trial or the entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, regardless of whether adjudication is withheld." § 775.21(2)(c), Fla. Stat. (2000).⁵

Although the trial court granted the State's request, the trial court expressed concerns in its order that classifying J.M. as a sexual predator was inappropriate and "particularly difficult in light of the uncontroverted evidence in this case." The trial court concluded that it was legally bound to grant the State's request by the holding in Payne v. State, 753 So.2d 129 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000), since no other district court had ruled on the issue. In Payne, the Second District, while acknowledging that section 985.233(4)(b) provides that an adjudication of delinquency should not be deemed a conviction, nevertheless held that an adjudication of delinquency should operate as a conviction for purposes of applying the Predator Act "because of the unique nature of section 775.21." Id. at 130.

On appeal, the First District reversed the order designating J.M. as a sexual predator, and held that an adjudication of delinquency could not be treated as a felony criminal conviction for purposes of invoking the Predator Act. Writing for the court, Judge Ervin pointed out that section 985.233(4)(b) specifically provides that an "[a]djudication of delinquency shall not be deemed a conviction, nor shall it operate to impose any of the civil disabilities ordinarily resulting from a conviction." J.M., 783 So.2d at 1206. Judge Ervin also noted that "[t]here is no language in section 775.21 that demonstrates any legislative intent to abrogate the long-standing statutory mandate excluding adjudications for delinquency from the consequences of conviction, unless expressly stated otherwise." Id. at 1205. The First District vacated the portion of J.M.'s sentence classifying him as a sexual predator and certified conflict with the Second District's contrary decision in Payne. See id. at 1206-07.

ANALYSIS

We approve the opinion of the First District Court of Appeal. Consistent with the analysis of the First District, we hold that juveniles who may be charged as adults, but are actually adjudicated as delinquents, do not stand criminally convicted for the purpose of designation as a sexual predator under the Predator Act. In reaching this conclusion, we note that the Legislature has joined the majority of states that have chosen not to subject juveniles to the provisions of their adult sexual offender registration and notification laws.⁶

Legislative Intent

It is well settled that legislative intent is the polestar that guides a court's statutory construction analysis. See State v. Rife, 789 So.2d 288, 292 (Fla.2001); McLaughlin v. State, 721 So.2d 1170, 1172 (Fla.1998). Further, we have explained that when the Court construes a statute, "we look first at the statute's plain meaning." Moonlit Waters Apartments, Inc. v. Cauley, 666 So.2d 898, 900 (Fla.1996).

As noted, the trial court elected to treat J.M. as a delinquent child under the provisions of section 985.227(3)(c), Florida Statutes (1999) which states:

When a child has been transferred for criminal prosecution as an adult and has been found to have committed a violation of state law, the disposition of the case may be made under s. 985.233 and may include the enforcement of any restitution ordered in any juvenile proceeding.

In turn, the relevant portion of section 985.233 provides:

In order to use this paragraph, the court shall stay adjudication of guilt and instead shall adjudge the child to have committed a delinquent act. Adjudication of delinquency shall not be deemed a conviction, nor shall it operate to impose any of the civil disabilities ordinarily resulting from a conviction.

§ 985.233(4)(b), Fla. Stat. (1999) (emphasis added). Initially, we note the lack of ambiguity in the Legislature's language in section 985.233(4)(b) that an "[a]djudication of delinquency shall not be deemed a conviction, nor shall it operate to impose any of the civil disabilities ordinarily resulting from a conviction." This unambiguous language must then be considered in conjunction with the unambiguous language of section 775.21(4)(a), which states that an individual will be designated a sexual predator only upon conviction of certain crimes. In the definitions section of the Predator Act, the term "conviction" is defined as meaning "a determination of guilt which is the result of a trial or the entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, regardless of whether adjudication is withheld." § 775.21(2)(c), Fla. Stat. (2000). Adjudications of delinquency are simply not included within this statutory provision.

Therefore, upon a plain reading of the controlling statutes, it is apparent that an adjudication of delinquency does not fall under the definition of a felony criminal conviction required under the Act. Thus, we conclude that an adjudication of delinquency does not trigger the sexual predator status provisions of the Predator Act.

We also note that other language in the Predator Act indicates the Legislature was fully aware of the unique status of adjudications of delinquency at the time the Act was drafted. For example, under the Act a sexual offender can be designated as a sexual predator in two different ways, based on the severity of the offender's "current offense." First, in cases involving a serious current offense, an offender can be designated a sexual predator after a single conviction. See § 775.21(4)(a)1.a., Fla. Stat. (2000). Second, in cases where the current offense is less serious, the sexual offender can still be designated a sexual predator, if the offender also has prior felonies. See § 775.21(4)(a)1.b., Fla. Stat. (2000). Subsection 775.21(4)(b) reads, in relevant part:

In order to be counted as a prior felony for purposes of this subsection, the felony must have resulted in a conviction sentenced separately, or an adjudication of delinquency entered separately, prior to the current offense and sentenced or adjudicated separately from any other felony conviction that is to be counted as a prior felony.

(Emphasis added.) Although this section was not applicable to J.M., the wording demonstrates that the Legislature was aware of the distinct status of adjudications of delinquency in drafting the Predator Act, and that it intended for adjudications to be counted as "prior felonies" under the provisions of section 775.21(4)(b).

Obviously, if the Legislature intended an adjudication of delinquency to operate as a "conviction" under the Act, it could easily have done so in the same manner provided in section 775.21(4)(b). The statutory scheme could have included adjudications of delinquency in the definition of a conviction in the Predator Act or, alternatively, could have provided in section 775.21(4)(a) that sexual predator status attached upon conviction or adjudication of delinquency.

We also note that in other instances when the Legislature intended adjudications of delinquency to operate in the same manner as a criminal conviction it has expressly stated so. See, e.g., § 775.083(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (2001) ("A county may adopt an ordinance imposing ... a fine...